By JAY COMPTON

Sports Editor

LOG MOUNTAIN — The Middlesboro Yellow Jackets opened the boys 13th Region Tournament in impressive fashion Wednesday night running away with an 82-55 win over Barbourville.

For a team making their first extended run in the post-season in quite some time Middlesboro looked right at home. They overwhelmed the Tigers with their defensive intensity, turned the game into a track meet and pulled away down the stretch.

The win was the first in a regional tournament for the Jackets since 1986. They advance to face three-time defending champion South Laurel in the semifinals on Monday.

“Nobody gave us a chance, but we’ll approach this next game like we have all year —The most important game is the next game you’re getting ready to play,” said Middlesboro coach Bill Jones. “We’re going to do it as a team, that’s what we’ve really concentrated on all year.”

During the regular season Middlesboro swept both of their games agiainst Barbourville, but needed a last second basket from Antwan Brown to pull out a 61-60 win at home on Feb. 13.

No late-game heroics were needed Wednesday as the Jackets broke the game open the second quarter and led by at least 14 throughout the second half.

After taking on a big scoring load late in the season, including a 49-point effort in Middlesboro’s 52nd District championship game win over Harlan County. Brown showed off his all-around point guard skills against Barbourville. He turned in a triple double with 13 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists.

Nick Smith led all scorers with 25 points, Blaine Green finished with 22 and the Jackets got solid contributions inside as Eddie Gilbert and Matt Powers chipped in seven each and Chad Cowan added six.

Smith pulled down 12 rebounds, Green had eight to go along with five assists and Cowan blocked five shots.

Jones acknowledged that the Jackets are a tough team to handle when they get that kind of scoring balance.

“In the finals of the district Antwan had a huge night. Sometimes it’s Nick, sometimes Blaine, and if they all three get going it’s trouble,” he said.

Smith and Brown scored two baskets each in the early going and pair of Smith free throws and a jumper from Cowan gave Middlesboro a 12-5 lead midway thorugh the first quarter.

Kevin Williamson and Josh Mills scored four points each for Barbourville as they closed to 14-13 late in the first and had the ball with a chance to take the lead.

With the clock winding down under ten seconds, Brown stole the ball and took it all the way for a layup and the Jackets led 16-13 going into the second quarter.

Middlesboro forced five turnovers as they opened the second period with a 16-2 run to take control.

Smith started the run with two free throws and a 3-pointer and Green scored six points, including a tip-in to give the Jackets a 32-15 lead with 2:45 to play in the first half.

Most of the points came in transition and Jones said it was a result of the team picking up the pace of the game.

“That’s what we had talked about, that’s what we were supposed to have done in the first period,” he said. “We adjusted between quarters and were able to pick up the tempo.

“Barbourville wants you to walk the ball up the floor, and I thought it made a world of difference. When we got in transition they couldn’t keep up with us.”

Middlesboro took a 38-21 lead into the half. Another reason for the big lead was that the Tigers just couldn’t hit from outside. They went 0-for-22 for the game from 3-point range.

The Jackets held Travis Beck — who led Barbourville’s comeback at Middlesboro and scored 30 points in the Tigers’ district semifinal win over Pineville — to just four points in the game. He was 0-for-6 from long range.

“The Beck kid had five or six on us the last time we played at our place and Garrett Clark had a couple 3s,” Jones said. “We just wanted to get out on their shooters so we came out in a man-to-man and sort of caught them a little bit. They’re used to us playing zone all the time so we switched it up and it seemed to work.”

The teams pretty well traded baskets throughout the third quarter with Middlesboro leading by as many as 21 before taking a 57-41 lead into the fourth.

Barbourville got as close as 14 in the fourth quarter on a putback Williamson and a basket by freshman Josh Hildebrand that made the score 59-45 with 6:51 to play.

Middlesboro answered with two baskets from Powers and a basket and two free throws from Green to push the lead back out to 67-49.

“Once we got a lead I thought we did well to maintain it,” Jones said. “We’re glad we had a good performance tonight. We’ll put that behind us and concentrate on our next game.”

Middlesboro pulled even farther away late as they closed the game on a 13-2 run to win by 27. Cowan’s putback in the final seconds set the final at 82-57.

Williamson led Barbourville (15-13) with 15 points, Hildebrand added 14 and Mills came off the bench to score 10.

Middlesboro (22-7) will face South Laurel (22-8) in Monday’s early semifinal at 6 p.m. The Cardinals held off Clay County 51-49 in Wednesday’s late first round game.

The tournament continues today at Bell County High School with Knox Central taking on North Laurel at 6 p.m. and Corbin facing Harlan County at 8:30 p.m.